Ideas (Not Convictions) On The Writers Strike
(Consider this more of a rant than a position on the writer’s strike. Feel free to tell me why I am wrong, I’m just throwing out ideas rather than taking a side.)
When I first heard about the writer’s strike, I immediately supported it, just as I have supported every strike ever. I have been a union worker most of my life and have no problem saying I’m on the side of labor against capital.
The more I thought about it, though, the more I started to question whose side the writers working for the big Hollywood corporations are on. After all, are they anything more than propagandists for corporate narratives? Aren’t these the same people making movies based off toys from another decade rather than writing scripts that deal with the important issues of our day?
As for the late night talk shows, will anybody miss them? Are the writers for these shows doing the viewers a service or are they just numbing people’s minds? I can’t think of the last time I watched a talk show and would surely turn my TV off in disgust within five minutes of subjecting myself to lame PC jokes and inoffensive humor that never gets deeper than “Trump bad”.
I get it, writers are forced to ply their trade in a corporate environment and won’t get work if they actually take stands. If they want to earn a living they have to work for, as Caitlin Johnstone called them, the skullface comedians. Caitlin describes the late night talk shows thus:
“Here is a government official who’s helped kill thousands of children.
Let’s make jokes about his hairstyle.”
“We live in a country that spends medicine money on cluster bombs.
Let’s giggle about penises and vaginas.”
“Your government is lying to you and the TV is helping them.
I live in a mansion but I’m just like you.”
Seriously, when was the last movie or TV show they wrote that dealt honestly with what blue collar people are experiencing? Avengers Endgame? Where has their solidarity with the working class been? And for all that they tend to support identity politics, I just scrolled through images of the picket line and you’d have to go to a Trump rally to see a greater percentage of White people standing around together.
What was the writers union’s response to the recent attempt at a railroad strike or the ongoing Alabama coal miners strike? I ask in earnest because I no longer watch TV. Because it is that bad. Because, in part, it is the enemy of the average working person. (Here I must give major props to Conan O’Brien for having Black 47 play their song, James Connolly, on his show. It was the only time I ever heard the word “proletariat” used on TV. But that was 30 years ago now.)
I get it, in order to ply their trade, in order to make a living doing what they love, they’ve got to sell their integrity and their soul. It can’t be easy. But when it gets to the point that the work you do does not provide anything of value to the working class and the poor, does that even qualify you as a fellow worker or does it just make you a willing tool of the bosses? Is this an internal squabble between the bosses and their toadies, or is there a reason why other workers can find solidarity with the people who write for extremely rich late night talk show hosts or movie stars that never do or say anything that threatens the power of the bosses?
If you are a worker, I consider you my brother or sister. For those of you unable to work, you are my brothers and sisters in need. But if you are working not to provide something of use for the average man or woman but are instead working to bolster the narrative our oppressors want you to, am I to consider you family?
Quit tomorrow, grab a welding whip or a bedpan, and I’ll have no doubt about what side you’re on. Work on the script you’ve always wanted to write while earning your living honestly and I’ll be more inclined to read it. Join those other artists, comedians, filmmakers, and writers who have refused to do what the big media conglomerates want them to do. Many of us are currently doing it. Some successfully, others not so much but still determined to write and say and create as our artistic, moral, and spiritual sensibilities see fit.
Like I said, this was a rant, not a position I feel compelled to defend. I would welcome a rebuttal from someone whose livelihood is on the line. It should be easy for anyone who makes their living with their words and their ideas. After all, I’m just a guy who has spent his life earning a living with his hands and his back. But to anyone else listening, if an argument cannot be made against the questions I have asked, please consider supporting writers who have not compromised their values in order to make a living. I mentioned Caitlin Johnstone already, and she is surely more than worthy of your concern and support. Glenn Greenwald, Chris Hedges, Aaron Mate, Max Blumenthal, Margaret Kimberly, and so many others, are speaking the truth so compellingly that it shouldn’t be hard to find someone to support.
To the members of the Writers Guild Of America, I wish you luck. And should your strike fail, should the union be broken and the writers be compelled, as most of us are compelled, to live a hand to mouth existence, congratulations: you are now one of us. You will come to realize you are of the working class and must work with the working class rather than spin fantasy narratives that either delude or distract the average person from identifying with labor.
And should you not receive the support of the rest of the working class, do not fear. I’m sure President Obama will be there to join you with his comfortable shoes any day now.